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Enjoying Your Work
Richard Brislin
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Ego-involved attitudes affect self-perception
People have attitudes toward many social objects and concepts, ranging from the very important to unimportant.
Attitudes which people hold strongly often deal with very important issues in their lives, such as religion, political affiliations and careers. These are called ego-involved attitudes because they contribute to people's views about themselves and the public images that they want to present to others.
Attitudes that are weakly held do not include the element of centrality to people's self and public images. For example, in the 2005 movie, "The Weatherman," the character played by Michael Caine had a very weak attitude toward the music of Bob Seger. He may have hummed along when he heard Bob Seger songs on the radio, but he did not have strong feelings one way or another. He became much more interested in the music when his son quoted from the Seger song, "Like a Rock," at a testimonial dinner. The son said that the song reminded him of his father. The Caine character then went to a music store to buy a CD that included this song.
Ego-involved attitudes are not well summarized by single marks on a measuring scale ranging from "like very much" to "dislike very much." Most people have completed measuring instruments of this kind. Managers rate their subordinates on how well they are doing their jobs. In doing so, managers are communicating their attitudes about their employees. Audience members at public lectures are sometimes asked to fill out a questionnaire whose purpose is to evaluate the speaker. Hospital patients are asked to fill out questionnaires about the quality of care they received before, during, and after their recent operations. Customers in restaurants are asked to evaluate the service they received.
When people do not have strongly held attitudes about these issues, they have few problems filling out these questionnaires. But when the attitudes involve their sense of self, they can be frustrated because the questionnaires do not delve into the complexities of their views.
In the example of the operations at the hospital, for example, people may have very strong views that cannot be summarized by a series of marks on a questionnaire. They may have felt that physicians disrespected them by not answering questions about the operation, but they may have found that the nurses gave excellent care. They may have been upset at the number of drugs that the physicians prescribed after the operation, perhaps feeling that they were not adequately counseled about post-operative pain, weakness, and lack of mobility.
The measurement of important, ego-involving attitudes has to go beyond checkmarks on a scale. These attitudes involve what are called latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and neutrality.
Let's use the example of attitudes toward bosses in the workplace. Latitudes of acceptance refer to behaviors about which employees have positive feelings. These might include feeling about the importance of bosses communicating a vision of the future, communicating openly about workplace issues, and giving feedback on how employee work can be improved.
Latitudes of rejection refer to behaviors that employees feel contribute to poor and ineffective management. These can include addressing employees using a demeaning tone of voice, not setting and communicating high workplace standards, and failing to follow through on promises to employees.
Latitudes of neutrality refer to behavior about which employees do not care one way or the other. This aspect of attitudes is especially difficult to analyze because some employees will place a behavior in their latitudes of acceptance. Others will feel a behavior is relatively unimportant and will place it in their latitudes of neutrality. Such behavior might include a manager's ability to give ceremonial speeches at company banquets or a manager's participation in voluntary community activities during weekends.
The fact that some people are neutral and others are highly positive is one reason for the adage, "You can't please everyone all the time."
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the College Relations Office at
cro@cba.hawaii.edu.